InFocus: Life Sciences & Healthcare e-newsletter - April 2011

Welcome to the April issue of InFocus, our life sciences and healthcare e-newsletter. In this issue we look at:

Features

• Update on inspection proceedings in Germany
  There is no pre-trial discovery in Germany. German courts clarify aspects of the inspection procedure developed by Düsseldorf District Court
• Biosimilars: A rose by any other name?
  The antitrust issues identified by the European Commission in its pharmaceutical sector inquiry of 2009 could be amplified by certain features of the regulatory and commercial landscape in biotechnology
• You never give me your money:
  Competition law, damanges actions, and the healthcare sector
  Public healthcare bodies that have suffered loss as a result of competition law infringements should consider 'follow on' damages actions as a means of recovering public money. Is this what lies behind the Department of Health's recent claim against Reckitt Benckiser?

Case reports

• What is a "human embryo" and when does an exclusion from patentability apply?
  Advocate General's opinion in "Oliver Brüstle v Greenpeace eV"
• Medical devices: Post patent protection for well known products in Germany
  German Federal Court of Justice I ZR 145/08 "Femur Teil"
• A new species of SPC referral
  Neurim Pharmaceuticals v The Comptroller-General of Patents [2011] EWCA Civ 228
• Secondary infringement of patents in the UK - a revice of recent case law
  Grimme Landmaschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG v Derek Scott; KCI Licensing Inc v Smith & Nephew plc; Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited v Delta Airways
• Essentially biological or patentable?
  EPO Englarged Board of Appeal cases G 2/07 and G 1/08

Hot topics

• EU pharmaceutical sector inquiry - update
• Pharma and social media
  PMCPA takes the plunge (and beats the FDA)
• Social media and employers’ duties
• UK corporate tax reform – Budget 2011 update
• A unified patent system for Europe – recent developments
• The Bribery Act
• Innovation and flexibility in litigation funding
• VAT – change of treatment of business samples

Avocats Helen Cline, Christoph de Coster, Verena Simmelbauer, Matthew Royle, Edward Vickers, Tim Worden, Suzanne Tyrrell, Nikol Davies, Saufung Ma, David de Ferrars